POP BEAT : AMPHITHEATERS SLOW EXPANSION OF SHOWS

Since 1981, when Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre began bringing major rock and pop performers to Orange County on a regular basis, the name of the game for the county’s concert scene has been “growth.”

But beginning this year, there will be a subtle change of pace as operators at both Irvine Meadows and the Pacific Amphitheatre start down-shifting from the hyper-drive of rapid expansion and sometimes reckless experimentation into more of a business-as-usual mode.

With last week’s announcement of their preliminary 1985 concert schedules, officials at both of the county’s amphitheaters are projecting between 50 and 60 concerts each this season with major pop, rock, country and jazz acts. That’s only a slight increase over the total of nearly 100 shows staged at the two facilities in 1984, even with the stiff competition from last summer’s Olympic Games.

“Last year, we had our greatest number of events ever,” said Irvine Meadows director of operations Jeff Apregan. “We heard a lot last year about the Olympics factor. Maybe it did have some effect, but whatever it was, it won’t be there this year. And there is a lot of superstar entertainment on tour this year.”

Veteran performers such as Barry Manilow, Chicago and the Grateful Dead will make return appearances at Irvine Meadows and the Pacific this year, while newcomers like Chaka Khan, Madonna and Spandau Ballet will be making their debuts before county pop fans.

Irvine Meadows’ lineup includes Grateful Dead (April 13-14), Spandau Ballet (April 19), Chicago (April 27), Alabama (May 12), Joan Armatrading (May 24), Phil Collins (June 2), Frankie Goes to Hollywood (June 16), Bill Cosby (June 28), Pat Metheny (July 26) and the Temptations, Four Tops and Tower of Power (Sept. 29).

Shows scheduled so far at the Pacific include Madonna (April 21), Teena Marie (May 25), Air Supply (May 26), Liza Minelli (June 28-29), Emmylou Harris and Randy Newman (June 30), Mitzi Gaynor (July 6), the Oak Ridge Boys, Exile and the Judds (July 11), Eric Clapton (July 22), Jefferson Starship (July 26) and the Pointer Sisters (July 27), Chaka Khan (Aug. 9), Engelbert Humperdinck (Aug. 10), Jeffrey Osborne (Sept. 1), Barry Manilow (Sept. 12-13), Harry Belafonte (Sept. 20) and Melissa Manchester (Oct. 6). Acts whose concert dates at the Pacific are still to be arranged are the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett and Johnny Mathis.

Gone--at least from the amphitheaters’ initial lineups--are the bookings of such headliners of past canceled shows as Sha Na Na, Hooked on Classics, the “Happy Together” tour with the Turtles, Association and other 1960s groups, Wayne Newton and the production of “Annie” with Martha Raye. Several of those shows had some local observers entering betting pools over how soon they would be axed.

The only special events currently under consideration for Irvine Meadows are a truck exhibition during the summer and the addition of some non-rock and pop shows. “I’d like to do a children’s type show and some symphonic concerts,” Apregan said, adding that neither are certainties.

There has also been no word to date about repeating last year’s “SummerFest ‘84,” a three-day event billed as a “celebration of the California life style.” Despite good weather and heavy advertising, the festival drew sparse crowds.

Apregan also said there are plans this year to try some modest post-concert entertainment at Irvine Meadows. “One idea for later in the summer when it gets warmer is to have a small after-show area, where people could wait while the parking lot clears out. In that situation we could put some local groups in. I hope we can work that out.”

“We are trying to be as diversified as we can,” Apregan said.

At the Pacific, however, there may be less diversity than in 1984, most notable in the Costa Mesa theater’s elimination of any theatrical productions.

“Not this year,” general manager Steve Redfearn said in a recent interview. Pacific officials were disappointed with their first theater venture, last summer’s “Camelot” with Richard Harris, but they blamed the modest turnouts on a variety of outside factors, including competition with the annual Orange County Fair.

Of the other two shows that were to have played the Pacific in 1984, “Annie” was canceled before it opened in Orange County, while the entire western United States portion of the “Oklahoma” tour was dropped.

But Redfearn said those disappointments won’t forever rule out theatrical events at the Pacific. “Anything that presents itself that makes sense, we’ll try to do.”

Although theater may be off the Pacific’s agenda for now, the amphitheater will continue to supplement its rock and pop concerts with other cultural activities, Redfearn said. “I’d like to have dance here. I’d love to do ballet, but those can be as hard to arrange as rock ‘n’ roll shows. I want to do more jazz, more symphonic and more bluegrass concerts.”

Another change for the Pacific in 1985 is that season tickets are being offered for the first time. For $1,250, season ticket holders get admission to all shows on the schedule as well as a small placard engraved with their name affixed to their season seat. Despite the substantial price tag, Redfearn said that more than 100 season tickets were sold on the first day they were announced.

Redfearn also said efforts will continue to resolve the ongoing dispute with some of the Pacific’s Costa Mesa neighbors who have complained about sound levels and other problems since the amphitheater opened in 1983.

“I think last year was a 100% improvement. Someone would be hard-pressed to say that we didn’t bend over backward last year to be good neighbors,” he said. “This year, our Pacific Patrol (a group of amphitheater employees) will go through the neighborhood to assist with trash pickup off sidewalks, (and to) get people to leave who might be sitting and drinking beer in their cars (parked on neighborhood streets) after concerts.

“We plan to do things like that when they are necessary,” Redfearn said. “No one wants to be a bad neighbor. I don’t think any act comes in here intentionally turning the sound up too loud. They understand that we have problems in the community. But we will continue to make offers on acts that make artistic and financial sense to the theater.

“I’m going to run it the only way I can,” he added “and that is to have concerts start on time, end on time and run with as little difficulty as possible.”

LIVE ACTION: Donna Fargo comes to the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana on April 22. . . . The Paul Butterfield Blues Band will be at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach on April 13, followed by Burning Spear on April 14. . . . George Van Eps and Tony Rizzi return to the Sunset Pub in Sunset Beach on April 21. . . . The Hags will play Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach on April 18.